


the game master

by sapphfics



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Backstory, Child Abuse, F/M, Gen, riverdale please hire me, this was going to be longer i’m sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: “Don’t let them break you.”Alice gets up. “I won’t. You must know I won’t. Besides, God won’t let them hurt a pregnant teenager, will he?”“You’d be surprised what they believe God will let them do.”





	the game master

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: I am in _no_ way trying to excuse any of Penelope’s horrendous actions towards Cheryl or any of the other citizens of Riverdale. I’m simply trying to explain her life - using my own headcanons and what I can infer from canon. I don’t believe the Riverdale writers thought much about her backstory beyond their ideas of the Breakfast Club archetypes, but I wanted to go deeper into her mindset. 
> 
> I have no pity for the monster that is the adult Penelope Blossom. However, I do have some empathy for the pitiful childhood she had. For the person she might have been. 
> 
> Warning for child abuse.

The Sisters pack as many children together in one room as they can get away with. Penelope spends the first eight years of her life leaning up against the cold wall, her head on her knees, barely getting five hours of sleep. 

She dozes off in class more often than she can get away with and is rewarded by getting her fingers crushed with a heavy Bible. 

One night, Sister Woodhouse puts a wet rag of gasoline over her mouth to finally get her to sleep. When she wakes up, she is lying on one of the only two beds in the room. There are no sheets. The other children have been removed. The nuns will not tell her why, or where the child who once occupied the space has gone. 

Penelope pulls the itchy blanket up to her chin and decides that she’s better off not knowing. 

:-: 

She’s red-headed and left handed, naturally, and that is a mistake to be corrected.

The hair dye they get her is too cheap to work well. It stings and stinks and it washes out after a week. 

The Sisters decide that this is her fault, and she spends a week locked in a prayer closet. 

They warn the other children not to talk to her, not to give her food or water, not even to think of her because God sees all. 

One night, someone hands Penelope a beer. It must have been stolen, but Penelope downs it so fast she almost starts choking. 

“Thank you...” She whispers. She can’t see whoever gave it to her, for the view outside the office window shows a starless sky. There is no light. 

The stranger doesn’t respond, only takes the empty glass bottle back and leaves. Later, Penelope reflects that she could have smashed the thing and used it as a weapon. She imagines digging the glass into Sister Woodhouse’s eyes, causing her as much pain as she has caused Penelope, getting revenge for years of abuse. 

They let her out by daybreak, and by then, it’s only a fantasy. A dark thought to be tucked away and never thought of again, for thou shalt not kill and Penelope will always fear God. 

:-:

The Blossoms pick her because she’s the prettiest and because she still has all of her teeth. 

“Children, this is Mr and Mrs Blossom.” Sister Woodhouse says. “They are looking for a very special child to join their family.”

A few of the children let out a gasp and Sister Woodhouse glares at them. Penelope stays quiet and just smiles, and takes one of the younger children’s hand in her own, and squeezes it to keep her quiet, too. 

They are all lined up in a row, and the Blossoms walk up and down three times trying to decide. The Blossoms whisper to one another things that Penelope cannot hear. 

Penelope stares at the wall, and then at the ground. Mrs Blossom is a towering figure, and Penelope wonders how she can spend so long on her toes. 

“You’re Penelope, aren’t you?” Penelope nods. Mrs Blossom gets down on one knee and smiles sweetly at her. “My son, Clifford, needs a companion. Can you be that for him, Penelope? Do you promise?”

She isn’t quite sure what any of this means, but she knows a promise is never to be broken. She just wants to be free, so she smiles back and nods. “I’ll do anything, Mrs Blossom.”

“That’s good to hear,” Mrs Blossom replies, and strokes her hair once. Then she stands up and looks Sister Woodhouse dead in the eyes. “We’ll take this one.” 

:-: 

Everything Penelope owns can fit in a trash back that Mr Blossom’s driver tosses in the boot. The car is large and so expensive that Penelope tries to avoid touching it unless she has to. She doesn’t want to taint it. 

“We will teach you everything you need to know. You will attend Riverdale High, the most prestigious high school in the area. After you graduate, you will marry my son, and carry on the Blossom name.” Mr Blossom says and he then smiles with too much teeth. His wife is silent. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do.” Penelope says, as she watches the orphanage fade from view. She’s lying, of course, but lying comes far too easy when you’ve grown up with the Sisters. 

“Good,” Mr Blossom says. “Now, is there anything you want?” 

Want? Penelope doesn’t remember the last time she was allowed to want anything but to survive. 

Mrs Blossom wears white gloves for a reason Penelope doesn’t know. They look pretty. 

“Could I have some gloves, please?” Penelope asks and squints. “Also, I think I need an eye test.”

“Clifford won’t find that appealing,” Mr Blossom responds. “Not many men will.”

“Don’t start this. He’s only a boy, and she needs glasses!” Mrs Blossom interjects. It’s the first time Penelope has heard her say anything harsh and she flinches instinctively.

Mr Blossom takes his hands off the wheel for a second, and then sighs. “Alright.”

Mr Blossom slams his foot on the excelerator, car speeds up, and Penelope bites her lip. 

:-:

You already know some of this tale. 

Some things are too painful to repear.

Besides, Penelope made a promise.

:-: 

“Alice—“ Penelope stops her in the bathroom. It’s almost summer and Alice is starting to show. “You’re going to the Sisters?”

Alice has stopped wearing leather. Pink isn’t her colour, it never was. “Yes. Why do you care?”

Penelope tries to put a hand on her shoulder and Alice moves back. “We were friends. I still care about you.”

“Just shut up!” Alice gets a hardened look in her eyes and Penelope wonders if she might hit her again. “No one cares about me, they just pretend and then they leave.”

Penelope doesn’t try and defend herself because she can’t. She never could. “You don’t have to do this. The Blossoms are having me marry Clifford the day after graduation. I’m sure I could persuade them to make it a double wedding. People have shotgun weddings all the time. We could live together in Thornhill, we’d be like sisters-“

“Penelope, you don’t understand.” Alice says.

“Make me understand!” Penelope 

Alice pulls her into a bathroom stall, almost ripping Penelope’s shirt sleeve, but instead Alice looks up at her and her voice cracks. “If you tell anyone, I will kill you.” 

Penelope nods. There is no one she could tell who would even believe her.

“The baby isn’t Hal’s. They promised to arrange a closed adoption. They promised to keep everything quiet.”

“Oh.” Penelope knows the sisters lie all the time, but she’s never seen them deal with a pregnant girl. “That...makes sense.”

“Penelope, I don’t want to have this baby.” Alice says. “I don’t...it’s too late. My family is dead. I left the Southside Serpents, I can’t do this alone-” 

“You can do this, Alice.” Penelope says. “I believe in you. I always did.” 

Alice lets out a shaky laugh. “Are you sending me on another quest?”

“No.” Penelope says. “Don’t let them break you.”

Alice gets up. “I won’t. You must know I won’t. Besides, God won’t let them hurt a pregnant teenager, will he?”

“You’d be surprised what they believe God will let them do.”

:-:

She visits Alice because she knows FP won’t.

It’s a few days after the baby is born. Clifford is waiting for her in the car. Alice looks exhausted.

She’s asleep when Penelope arrives, so she leaves her flowers at her bedside and leaves. 

She hopes it is enough.

She gets back in the car, Clifford drives back to Thornhill, and Penelope locks the door behind them, hoping to shut out the world beyond. 

Penelope will never leave Thornhill. Not unless it burns to the ground, and even after that.


End file.
